54 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
IRews anD IReports from Colonial 
Hpiartes. 
DEW DEOP APIARY, MAEONG. 
The main source of our honey-supply is the 
bush ; the best two honey -yielding trees being 
the red gum and box; some of the latter are now 
in blossom, but the weather is not warm enough 
for them to yield any honey yet. The red gum 
blossoms during January and February. Our 
bees are all Italians ; we use the Langstroth 
hive and keep our bees in the open, and al- 
though it is very hot in summer, we find that 
with the hives painted white, the frames wired, 
and plenty of ventilation, the bees get along 
all right. The bees have commenced breeding 
and if we have fine weather the season promises 
to be a very favorable one. 
J. B. Greenway. 
Covrespon&ence. 
A BEMEDY FOE BEE-STINGS. 
No. 46. — The following is an account as it 
appeared in the British and Colonial Druggist 
for July, 18S7 ; — “Castor oil is said to be an 
infallible remedy for the sting of bees or other ! 
insects ; it has been tried in Albany, U.S.A., 
by a number of persons and has given instant 
relief in almost every instance. The castor oil 
seems to counteract the poison and allay the 
pain as soon as applied. The remedy is said, 
by reliable persons who have tried it, to be a 
never failing one.” I have tried it myself and 
it acted beyond my expectation. I let the bees 
sting me well on the hand in four or five places : 
I immediately applied the castor oil; in a minute 
or two there was no pain. There did not seem 
time for pain or sw'elling, it acted so quickly. 
One of the stings remained in the wrist for 
several minutes until the muscles of the bee 
sting stopped working (which can be seen if 
looked at closely) and it commenced to get 
sore and swell, but in ten minutes after the 
castor " oil was applied — rubbed in — the sore 
ness and swelling were gone and I could just 
see where the sting had been. I am sure it 
will prove a blessing to beekeepers. 
August 22, 1887. William Dabe. 
No. 47. — In one of the German bee journals 
(Gravenhiust’s), I met with a very interesting 
article on introducing queens, and although 
few of us might adopt this plan, yet I have 
learned something from it, therefore I thought 
it might he of some interest. The writer of 
the article is a Mr. Sauter, and his views are 
these; — That there are three different stages to 
be observed and strictly adhered to in every 
queenless colony. The first stage, he says, is 
that of mourning the loss of her majesty. 
Bees in their distress about their bereavement 
are far too excited to receive a queen. The- 
second stage is that of building cells; they will 
not accept a queen then, for they know that 
there has not been sufficient time to mature a 
queen, and therefore they look at an intro- 
duced queen as an intruder, and even if the 
cells are forcil ily destroyed, they will at times 
kill the queen and rebuild cells. But now 
comes the final, the most important stage, 
when the cells have been capped. Mr. Sauter 
says it does not matter whether a queen comes 
out of a wire cage or out of a cell, at this stage 
she is always received. Now, gentlemen, as I 
said in the beginning, it is not likely we shall 
adopt this plan, but we can learn now the 
reason why queens are not always well received. 
For my part I hold that a queen bee must he 
introduced before the bees arrive at their first 
stage, that is, as soon as the old one is removed, 
so that they do nor miss her. Although I have 
not always been successful in introducing on 
Mr. Simmins’ plan, yet I believe that it was my 
own blundering, and I fully endorse all Mr. 
Simmins says on it in his pamphlet. The 
difficulty with me is in Simmins' method, a 
queen should not be touched with a human 
finger, hut removed from one comb on to an- 
other on which she is to be put into the hive 
by means of a goose quill. But on Mr. F. 
Benton’s plan it does not matter if she is 
handled, for she is at once put into the cage, 
where she soon gains here former composure, 
particularly if we have a few young bees along 
with her. In the same journal I also read that 
for immediate introduction to be successful it 
is well to exchange the hi ve to be operated upon 
with another one in tho apiary. By so doing 
you will lose the old bees on the wing and tho 
other ones returning to the changed hive arc 
then strangers to the new queen and will not 
interfere. This stands to reason, but it needs 
a trial, and before long I shall he able to give 
you a little more on the same subject and on 
my results with this method. 
H. Navisau. 
Hamilton, August 18. 
No. 48. — When I was observing my bees 
yesterday while they were feeding, I 
thought it might be well if I described the 
plan I have adopted this season for feeding 
them. I have imitated the round box feeder 
with a tube in tho centre through which the 
bees ascend. To this end I have made a box 
G x 4 x 2 inches high. This is made from very 
thin boards ; the bottom has an oblong hole 
morticed in it to receive a tube. This box is 
nailed together so that the bottom between 
the sides and ends is nailed about g inch 
above the bottom edges, so that a space 
is formed for the bees to crawl under. The 
ends I make about J of an inch narrower on 
the top than the sides, so that a pane of glass 
can rest on them. After the tube has been 
fitted in, I run melted wax in the feeder to 
make it air and water tight. Now I fit a pane 
